Rule #47: Clean up the mess you made
You know when you wake up from a nightmare when you're falling out of bed or you're about to die an uncertain death? Usually you wake up with a jolt with heart racing and it might take a few minutes to calm down and see that everything is all right. But what happens when you wake up to a nightmare? What are you supposed to do when you blearily blink up at your world collapsing in on itself? What do you do when your friends are gathered together and cowering beneath the large draconic wingspan of their mentor in fear of the enormous boulders that rained down on them, about to squish them like bugs?
What is the right response, here? Toru actually wanted to know because she sure didn't. What she did end up doing was throw both her arms and legs in the air in a very good impression of a dead ant as one of the largest shields she had ever created, encompassed them all. This shield had to be the largest one yet (save for the one at the Provisional Licensing Exam) and she was struggling to maintain it. Sweat mixed with blood, blocking her vision somewhat as she struggled under the weight of it all. In the end, it was more of an instinctual thing, one powered by a surge of self-preservation as the debris rained down around them and she fought the headache pounding against her skull & the ringing in her ears. Soon enough, the falling rubble dissipated enough for her to feel comfortable about dropping the shield. Letting go, she proceeded to sprawl across the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
"Prism!" Ochako scampered into view now that she had room to move without fear of being crushed. "You're awake!"
"How're you feeling, kiddo?" Kage asked from over her shoulder, as she finished tying off the leg splint she'd manufactured from strips of Nighteye's shirt and a couple of shingle nails.
"Huh?" Toru smacked her lips, her mouth feeling dry as Ochako carefully settled her into an upright position next to Kage and Nighteye. Honestly, she hadn't even known she had passed out until she had peeled her bleary eyes open mere moments before; unfortunately the pain she had felt upon passing out was still there, but compared to these two her own injuries were nothing to write home about, but that wasn't really convincing her headache to go away or the dizziness to halt all the same.
To the left, Sir Nighteye sat cradled in Tsu's arms with the stone still impaled in his chest and she could just see the clean cut where her bubble had sliced through the rock like a knife through hot butter. The shield must've been much hotter than she had first intended though, because she could also glimpse the edges of a sunburn decorating the rear of his exposed forearms.
To the right sat Kage looking far more bruised and battered than she ever had before. One of her legs was hastily bandaged in a makeshift splint and Toru would bet money that it was at the very least fractured, if not broken. She swore she could see bone poking out of the detective's leg and it made her blood curdle at the sight.
"Prism?" Ochako pursued, brows furrowed. "What happened?"
"Er, I—I think I hit my head…?" She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision as she also tried to recall what had happened only moments before. All that was coming to mind was green sparks, a sharp shove, wind knocked from her lungs, a general feeling of oh shit, that was a bad idea and pain as she impacted with the ground. "Did you always have three eyes?"
"Uh…" Ochako spared a worried glance over her shoulder as Toru closed her eyes with a groan and rested her head between her knees in attempt to right herself. She tried to block out the mutterings going on around her because of the general ickiness and wrongness she felt; she couldn't pinpoint what it was, only that it was wrong.
"…Here, use this" Kage's voice floated to the forefront of her mind, bringing her from her daze as the device in question—a miniature UV wand clipped to her keychain—clattered against the rock at her feet from where she had awkwardly lobbed it over Nighteye's head.
"Thanks" Ochako nodded before running the light over her friend in order to see what—if any—injuries Toru had sustained.
A gentle hand had her head tilting back up despite her grumbles, wiping away as much of the blood & sweat from her eyes as possible before the violet wand soon brought her injuries to the surface. Toru flinched back from the light shining in her eyes, but wasn't able to go far as Ochako held her chin in a tight but gentle grip. The invisible girl knew she was only going through the motions, repeating each step as if it were one of Thirteen's search and rescue lessons but that didn't really help her in the moment.
"…Dizziness" Ochako mumbled to herself as she poked and prodded at her classmate with shaky hands. She may have been through the motions as she had done in class, but this was no lesson, this was real life and it was far more realistic than she had ever thought it would be. Not that she would say that. "Dilated pupils…"
Oh wow. Toru mused as she all but sank into Ochako's embrace, letting her face rest a little more heavily in her hands. I nearly died…
"…ism? Toru? Can you hear me? I need you to stay awake, okay…?"
Oh God! I nearly died! The dissociation, it appeared, was finally wearing off.
"…Hey! Hey! Look at me! Look at me…!"
What the hell was I thinking going up against Chisaki?! And blackmailing him?! Who I do I think I am?! Certainly not All Might! Did I just sign my death warrant?!
"Ow! Hey!" Toru whined, rubbing at her cheeks that Ochako had pinched in an attempt to regain her attention without injuring her further. It certainly seemed to work. "What was that for?"
"I need you to stay awake, okay?" Ochako scolded, sounding very matronly. Toru couldn't help but feel guilty about the disappointment she'd detected in the brunette's tone. "No going to sleep"
"Okay" Toru acquiesced with a small nod.
"Good, okay, good"
"Here Uravity, ribbit" Tsu croaked handing a roll of bandages to the gravity girl so she could wrap up their classmate.
"Thanks" She smiled at the frog girl before unfurling the roll and set to work.
Toru did her best to sit still and not fidget so Ochako could finish wrapping her head injury, but she also desperately wanted to shrink away from the detective next to her who had decided that now was the best time for berating her earlier actions. She thought she'd gone off on the Babe Butcher all those weeks ago, but that was nothing in comparison to the dressing down she was currently receiving. The invisible girl wanted nothing more than for the floor to open up & swallow her whole; at least it would save her from this embarrassment. Instead, she turned her attention back over to where Midoriya appeared to be the last hero still standing against Chisaki.
Her eyes blew wide at what she saw. Time seemed to slow as Eri leapt from a tall stone pillar which had erupted in the center of the room, Lemillion's cape clutched tightly in her grasp. Down below, Midoriya was tearing himself to pieces as he punched and kicked his way up through the rubble to get to the girl. Chisaki was nowhere in sight and Toru felt like her heart had leapt into her throat as she watched Eri fall into waiting arms. "GIVE HER BACK!" Chisaki bellowed and then time resumed as Chisaki appeared over the edge of the pillar with one hand reaching out to the falling pair and another clenched tight into the stone beneath his feet. Above them, Ryukyu curled in tighter as she prepared to use her body as a shield against the impending blow back of his attack.
Toru held her breath—her peers doing the same—as she watched the greenette rebound off of the stone, sending himself and Eri hurtling away from Chisaki and his madness. She couldn't tear her eyes away, not even when he was stabbed nor when Chisaki roared in rage and pain as he descended like an enraged beast. It almost looked like he was dancing in the air with the way he moved, none of it graceful, but captivating all the same. Midoriya danced by them for a brief moment as he spun out of the way of an attack with Eri clutched tightly in his arms. Even through her bleary vision, Toru could see Midoriya's determination swimming in his eyes, could see it in the green sparks surrounding his tense form. And then they were hurtling towards the sky with a kick so immense that it shattered not only Chisaki's attack but sent shockwaves throughout the area that had everyone cowering for cover.
"…Hold on" Ryukyu unfurled herself from the ball she had fallen into to protect them. "What happened?"
"Where's Deku?" Ochako worried, shakily pushing herself to her feet after double checking that Toru was still awake & okay (no thanks in part to the well-aimed kick Kage had aimed at her shin). "Huh? Chisaki!"
"I never told her what her power is, much less how to use it. Eri, you naughty girl. You belong to me!" Chisaki muttered to himself as he rose, blood dripping from his forehead, rear arms missing and forearm crippled. Wide eyes watched as he broke down and repaired his own arm before stumbling over to another one of his fallen comrades. "In order to realise the old man's greatest wish, I need you, Eri"
"Not good!" Ryukyu panicked as they watched Chisaki absorb Katsukame with ease.
"You needn't…worry" Nighteye rasped. "You are…safe…at least for the time being…He's not going to target any of us…He'll head to the surface…in pursuit of Midoriya…and Eri. Then…he'll kill…M-Midoriya…and escape"
"Huh! We can't let him—!" Ochako cried, meaning to go after them but instead she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, tripping over her own feet. Toru winced at the sound of her mask hitting the ground upon impact.
"There's nothing you can do…I Foresaw it"
"We can't just sit here and do nothing!" Ryukyu retorted, slamming her tail against the ground in agitation.
"Given the shape we're all in…you cannot stop him…I'm sorry"
"…That doesn't matter! I have to do something and help him!" Ochako grit out as she pushed herself to her feet using her Quirk to make her weightless. In her attempt to push her limits and face the rampaging Chisaki, she pulled up more than just herself. Toru turned to hide her face in Ryukyu's scales as rubble and debris floated upwards towards the sky like comets. You could practically feel Ochako's determination, so much like Midoriya's in that way, as she refused to acknowledge the future Nighteye had laid out for them. Toru had to agree, she didn't think she could see a world without any of her friends in it, it was just something she hadn't perceived. "THERE'S NO FUTURE EXCEPT THE ONE YOU CREATE!"
"…Froppy" Nighteye turned to the girl who had been protecting his head.
"Ribbit?" Tsu croaked as she pulled back a bit so that he could speak.
"You go help Mirio. He's on the other side of the wall, through that hall…Prism, get the power turned back on…Uravity, Ryukyu…I need your aid…take me to the surface!"
"Right!"
Once Chisaki had evacuated the Yakuza base and chase after Midoriya & Eri just as Nighteye had predicted, they quickly set to work. Tsu handed Nighteye off to Ochako before hopping off to find Mirio and any other members of their hero contingent that remained inside. At the same time Toru was slowly making her way back to the security room in order to retrieve the USB sticks she had abandoned in her escape from Oishii and his band of thugs. Thankfully her vision had cleared up somewhat by this point, but it was still slow-going and she ended up using the wall as a crutch to help her walk more often than not.
After getting turned around a couple of times, she eventually found herself back in the hallway where most of the shit had gone down. Toru paused outside of the air duct where Fleur's manicured hand lay dangling out of and winced at the thought of what she had done to the elder girl; sure she had been trying to kill her, but burning to death couldn't have been a fun way to go out. But more than that, the idea of touching her corpse to either move her out of the way or climb over her in order to search the vents for the USB she had dropped had her stomach turning. Oh God! This is gonna suck! She whined before shoving her nose into the tattered collar, sucking in a deep breath and hooking her arms under the Frenchwoman's forearms before she dug in her heels and hauled her out of the vent.
It took a few tries to get the older girl out, partially in part to her weight and partially due to Toru having to pause to gag and retch off to the side. The smell coming off of the burnt girl was horrendous and Toru couldn't look down at her—she'd caught a glimpse of her reflection in the melted sheet metal and that nightmare was more than enough for the invisible girl. Once her legs were free, Toru held no qualms about tossing her body aside and climbing into the warm vents as she furiously wiped her hands on her pants.
Oh God! Toru gagged as she crawled inside. If she thought the smell was bad before, then it was nothing compared to the cooling oven she had just climbed inside. Thankfully she hadn't gone far the first time she had come through here and so she easily found the mangled piece of metal laying next to what she could only assume was the remains of a rat trap. After quickly retreating from the vent, she proceeded to rush back towards the tunnel that to the security room as she took several deep breaths in an effort to abate the nausea roiling in her gut. The acrid taste still lingered in the back of her throat, however.
Back in the security room, the damage was lessened but the security guards she had left bound next to the vending machines were long gone; they were likely victims of the escaped Nomus. She'd managed to untangle her lasso from where she left it on the way, thankful that the gift had been left alone for the most part. Following that she had made quick work of returning power back to the base (and with the aid of Ritsu) carolled the remaining Nomu into an unnamed room where they were then locked inside. If they were lucky, they would die out before the base was throughly searched for any other evidence.
Currently Toru was trying to wiggle the All Might USB free from the computer (honestly it was a wonder it had survived this much, she was sure it had succumbed to their attacks earlier in the day) and she soon found herself propping up a foot on the desk and hauling on the busted stick with all her might (pun unintended).
With the official USB stick (the one she was meant to use for Lopez to analyse) mangled beyond repair and the All Might USB stick that she had secretly bought along in the hopes that whatever virus was embedded on it (and she was sure that there was one on it) would be uploaded to the Yakuza's system. Of course, those hopes were dashed now that the computers were damaged beyond repair. Despite this, she was still able to retrieve Ritsu and whatever files she had been able to download during that time.
Now what am I s'posed to do with this? Toru mused as she finally wrenched the stick free. The offical stick she'd shoved into her pocket knowing that she was likely headed to the hospital after this and that her pockets would be the first place they looked. But she didn't want the second stick to be found, so where could she put it? After trying a few different spots, Toru eventually tucked it in to the pockets on her elbow pads next to the knives she had conveniently forgotten were there.
A few more twists and turns later, Toru eventually found herself picking her way back to the front of the base. The Nomus had certainly lain waste to the base, leaving naught but blood and brain matter in their wake and it brought the acrid taste in her mouth back to the forefront of her mind. Toru couldn't take it anymore, one glance and she was gone. Painted in red and stinking of burnt flesh, the invisible girl bent at the waste and proceeded to expel the contents of her stomach onto the hallway floor at her feet.
Absently she noted the door off to her left creaking open and the unified sound of disgust and concern sounding from the masked Yakuza and Fatgum who stood there. A large hand clapped itself around her forearm holding her upright as she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sounds of her own sick hitting the floor. But mostly she just tried to avoid hitting her feet.
Eventually the river ended and she was lifted off of her feet with a quiet yelp accompanied by soft reassurances from the BMI hero (who had slimmed down a fair amount from the last time she had seen him) and a hand rubbing her back like they trying to burp a baby. She had to admit it did help a little. Toru let her head rest against Fatgum's shoulder as they returned to the street where the others lay waiting.
Not too soon after, everyone was shoved into various emergency vehicles and swept off to the nearest hospital with the most urgent going first. Toru had been tucked in next to a couple of unknown detectives who had fallen prey to flying rubble and debris. As she closed her eyes and listened to the wailing sirens of the emergency vehicle, she was just glad that the whole ordeal was over for now.
